Kemit is a very special case of a strict transcription of a darbouka solo by the priests of Nubia or ancient Upper Egypt, recorded by the composer. In this work, François-Bernard Mâche evokes an Africa somewhere between North and East Africa. 
In itself, this work is a challenge that the composer wanted to take up. The aim was to demonstrate the vitality of a piece of traditional music and an ancient musical instrument that, for many academics, was still of interest only in terms of its value or as an object to be put away "in an aseptic showcase". Yet the darbouka and its music, as presented by François-Bernard Mâche, are undeniably of both symbolic and historical value. 
This authentic adaptation fits perfectly into the aesthetic framework of the musical myth and archetypes sought by the musician. 
The subtleties of Kemit's playing and original accents mean that it has a place among the works of the 20th century, thanks in particular to the depth that the instrumental dexterity of the exceptional Jean-Pierre Drouet has restored to it. 
This historical testimony was also a symbol: the myth of the "paralysing respect for traditional music" or of certain old instruments being preserved only in their original environment was shattered here. The author of Rituel d'oubli (1969), for example, gives the darbouka "enough universality that (its) interest does not lie entirely in (its) original function... to the accent of (its) province", the composer points out. 

* In response to one of our letters, the composer explained the motive and even the necessity for creating such a work, pointing out that: "Like the ancient scribe, I wanted to give this music the second life of the European concert, thinking that it would be able to assume it with the help of the new generation of percussionists who have mastered the techniques of the Iranian zarb and the Arab darbouka. Against a paralysing respect for traditional music, and against its preservation in an aseptic showcase, I wanted to wager that it had, at least for some of them, like this one, enough strength to withstand being transplanted into a foreign social setting - the concert - and enough universality to ensure that its interest did not lie entirely in its original function, in the subtleties of authentic playing, in the accent of its province. If it is accepted that Beethoven or Debussy can be played in Tokyo or Cairo, I thought in 1970 that it was time to admit that the darbouka could also be played in Europe".

In this way, he was able to convincingly transplant the vitality of an exotic music of ancient value into a setting reserved for Western musical performance: the concert. 
The rhythmic richness of this non-Western music can be found throughout Kemit. 
The construction of its rhythmic and melodic-harmonic structures is subtly arranged in such a way that the exceptional flavour of the Darbouka, as well as its universality, are brought to the fore to enhance the memory of which it is the bearer. 
"Exotically Western", François-Bernard Mâche once again made a name for himself with this cabalistic solo on the drum of the Nubian priest, which he transposed with relevance into Western patterns. 

However, the choice of this solo, which comes from distant times and is culturally out of sync, should not be seen as the result of the composer's archaeological instincts, or of a concern for the passionate preservation of an ancient sound document and its instrument, the zarb, which is then reduced to a museum object, 
With this Darbouka, the composer rejects the ideas of making sounds from noises or of making noises from sounds, as professed by the imitators of electroacoustic, medieval and oriental modes, with which the author of Tempora (1988) disagrees, while rightly attacking the "paralysing respect for traditional music" that he often refers to in his writings. 
Kemit offers an incantation of elaborate and originally crafted instrumental harmonies, combining strips of raw sound. Taken from nature, these sounds have been selected by the composer. 
As for his musical writing, François-Bernard Mâche points out that it is "eminently European in practice, (and) is in keeping with the very spirit of the tradition for which the written sign perpetuates, and the sound reading resuscitates life". (Extract from the composer's written reply of 7 November 1998 to our letter). 
The African musical inspiration of Kemit, a vestige of a pre-Islamic Egyptian poetic tradition, is essentially a search for singular timbres, whose spectra are of refined transparency and a strict combination of rhythms. 

Apollinaire Anakesa Kululuka: L'Afrique subsaharienne dans la musique savante occidentale au XXe siècle, p.259-261